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Urban flooding, fueled by climate change and rapid urbanization, presents significant challenges for cities around the world. In the United States, this is of particular concern as we see older cities reaching their maximum development density, and newer cities developing to the edge of their boundaries. The dynamic nature of cities and the people that live in them complicate urban flood risk modeling. This paper highlights the need to reconceptualize urban flooding from a spatially and temporally intersectional perspective by analyzing the patterns of socio-economic and bio-physical data across eight US cities to illustrate how spatial flood risk is driven by place-specific factors. Here, we demonstrate the need for a holistic understanding of flood risk, which acknowledges both the deep histories and uncertain futures specific to each city to promote urban flood resilience and environmental justice. Legacies of racialized development continue to influence the spatial heterogeneity of urban flood risk. Thus, centering the ways past injustice has shaped the environment is critical to highlighting inequities in who and where is at increased risk of flooding. The varying impacts of climate change on flooding in different cities, as well as the actions city governments have taken in response to flood events, inform risk and should be included in modeling efforts. There are many challenges in incorporating new temporal dynamics into flood risk modeling, such as data availability, creating a necessity for a greater understanding of flood impact. This is required not only to fully comprehend the impacts of flooding but also to identify appropriate, necessary, and community-sensitive flood interventions as well as to optimize the impact of adaptive measures. Considering historical and future drivers of risk, intersectional flood risk models are required to promote more equitable and effective resilience efforts. This approach will allow urban flood planners and engineers to gain a deeper understanding of how to promote climate resilience while overcoming the reinforcement of discriminatory development and management patterns.
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What Was the Norm Is No Longer the Norm: Capturing Socio-Ecological Histories of Flood Resilience in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area through Archival News Analysis
Wisconsin’s Driftless Area, an unglaciated region defined by steep river valley systems, has been plagued by chronic flooding in part due to Euro-American agricultural practices and anthropogenic climate change. The region, which has played a central role in environmental knowledge production, has a storied history of resilience practices and flood experience. To capture histories of Driftless Area flood experience and underlying socio-ecological dynamics, we performed a qualitative analysis of regional news archives from 1866 to present on flood trends, experiences, and responses. Our analysis identified hazard response trends mediated by socio-ecological factors including crisis-induced windows of opportunity for change, conflicts over structural and non-structural responses to flooding, and psychological dimensions of environmental crises. Finally, our analysis noted the key role of community flood knowledge in producing shifts towards enhanced resilience, suggesting the need for empowering flood response planning at the community scale.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2009353
- PAR ID:
- 10480453
- Publisher / Repository:
- Society and Natural Resources
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Society & Natural Resources
- ISSN:
- 0894-1920
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 21
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- community Driftless Area flooding news analysis resilience socio-ecology
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2023.2280903
